SearchSystems Editorial

Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site on September 23, 2026.

About this guide

Middlesex County, New Jersey, has about 890,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office, 25 city agencies and four campus, state or other agencies. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the County Prosecutor files charges, a case in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.

This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.

Related guides: Middlesex County public records, New Jersey arrest records, New Jersey inmate search and New Jersey criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Middlesex County

The Middlesex County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Middlesex County. It reported 706 arrests for 2023, its latest complete year.

The FBI lists 15 cities in Middlesex County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported, the largest twelve first; the rest are named in the cities section below:

  • New Brunswick, 57,487 residents: 961 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Perth Amboy, 56,939 residents: 1,548 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Sayreville, 47,165 residents: 223 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Carteret, 26,003 residents: 540 arrests reported for 2025.
  • South Plainfield, 25,062 residents: 298 arrests reported for 2025.
  • South River, 16,392 residents: 126 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Metuchen, 15,470 residents: 101 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Highland Park, 15,386 residents: 77 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Middlesex, 14,874 residents: 145 arrests reported for 2025.
  • South Amboy, 10,549 residents: 125 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Dunellen, 8,411 residents: 124 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Spotswood, 8,306 residents: 79 arrests reported for 2025.

A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.

The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Middlesex County: Middlesex County College and Rutgers University at New Brunswick (campus police); Prosecutor in Middlesex County (other); the Middlesex County State Police (state police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Middlesex County

Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.

  • Edison Township: 1,517 for 2025, 1,623 for 2024, 1,468 for 2023, 1,253 for 2022, 967 for 2020 and 2,335 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Woodbridge Township: 1,193 for 2025, 1,374 for 2023, 1,530 for 2022 and 2,103 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2024 are missing months.
  • New Brunswick: 961 for 2025, 946 for 2024, 880 for 2023, 821 for 2022, 661 for 2021 and 1,252 for 2020.
  • North Brunswick Township: 834 for 2025, 701 for 2024, 692 for 2023, 601 for 2022, 850 for 2020 and 1,384 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • East Brunswick Township: 743 for 2025, 747 for 2024, 722 for 2023, 701 for 2022, 573 for 2021 and 1,057 for 2020.
  • Carteret: 540 for 2025, 466 for 2024, 356 for 2023, 607 for 2020 and 619 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
  • South Plainfield: 298 for 2025, 408 for 2024, 350 for 2023, 294 for 2022, 531 for 2020 and 787 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • South Brunswick Township: 261 for 2025, 253 for 2024, 201 for 2023, 251 for 2022, 160 for 2021 and 238 for 2020.
  • Sayreville: 223 for 2025, 334 for 2023, 313 for 2022, 443 for 2020 and 541 for 2019; 2021 and 2024 are missing months.
  • Monroe Township: 168 for 2025, 176 for 2024, 181 for 2023, 159 for 2022, 307 for 2020 and 474 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
  • Milltown: 158 for 2025, 82 for 2024, 54 for 2023, 76 for 2022, 58 for 2021 and 193 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
  • Middlesex: 145 for 2025, 91 for 2022, 127 for 2020 and 260 for 2019; 2021, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.

Together, the 21 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 7,840 arrests that year. The 17 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 6,213 in 2025 against 6,185 in 2024, up 0.5 percent.

Through July 2026, the 17 agencies with every month so far on file reported 3,110 arrests, against 3,133 in the same months of 2025.

Helmetta, Middlesex County Sheriff's Office, Perth Amboy, Piscataway Township and one more reported only part of 2025 (2 months, 11 months, 11 months and 7 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Middlesex County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in Middlesex County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.

On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 560 people, up from about 530 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 1,436 beds, and it ran at 39 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.

SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office at middlesexcountynj.gov/government/departments/department-of-public-s... (page title: Inmate Lookup | Middlesex County NJ), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.

That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.

A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the New Jersey Department of Corrections lists its inmates at www20.state.nj.us/DOC_Inmate/inmatefinder?i=I.

How to Find Out About an Arrest in Middlesex County

Whether someone was arrested in Middlesex County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; New Jersey Courts Public Access, the Judiciary's free online case search for civil and criminal cases, which shows whether charges were filed; the County Prosecutor, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at middlesexcountynj.gov/government/departments/department-of-public-s...).

New Jersey does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the New Jersey State Police goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.

Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Middlesex County

The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the Open Public Records Act the agency must answer within 7 business days, and it may charge copying at 5 cents a page for letter size.

  • An arrest by the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in New Brunswick, Perth Amboy, Sayreville, Carteret, South Plainfield, South River or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
  • An arrest by Middlesex County College, Rutgers University at New Brunswick or Prosecutor in Middlesex County: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Prosecutor handles discovery for pending cases.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at middlesexcountynj.gov (page title: Request for Open Public Records Act (OPRA) Documents | Middlesex County NJ).
  • Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the State Police.

Cities in Middlesex County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the 15 cities in Middlesex County: the twelve named above and Milltown, Jamesburg and Helmetta. The FBI's list also carries Monroe Township Police Department, Middlesex County, the Edison Township Police Department, the East Brunswick Township Police Department and seven more as city agencies in Middlesex County; Monroe Township, Edison Township, East Brunswick Township and seven more are not among the cities above.

Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Middlesex County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Middlesex County each year?

Edison Township reported 1,517 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 21 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 7,840 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Middlesex County?

Look on the custody page of the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office at middlesexcountynj.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.

Where are people arrested in Middlesex County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Middlesex County?

The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the New Jersey State Police is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Open Public Records Act.

How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Middlesex County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Open Public Records Act the answer is due within 7 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at middlesexcountynj.gov.

Is this the official Middlesex County website?

No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.